.»` 'TFPE CO'NQ17E3T OVER DEATH, [MSC. Y. yet to have such an intimate union dissolved between flesh and ,blood carries something of terror in it ; and there may be an innocent reluctance in the natureof the best christian against such an enemy as this : thereforeSt. Paul, in 2 Core v. 4. does not directly desire " to be uncloathed, but rather to be cloathed upon, that morta- lity might be swallowed up of life ; that is, to be trans- lated at once: into an immortal state. The soul andbody have been long acquainted with each other, and the soul has performed almost all its operations by the use of the. senses and the limbs : It sees by the eye, it hears by the ear, it acts by the hands, and by the tongue it converses. Nov to be separated at once from all these, and tobe at once conveyed into a new strange world, a strange and unknown state both of being and, action, has something in it so surprizing, that it is a little frightful to the nature of man, even when he is sanctified and fitted for heaven. And as the soul is dismissed by death into a state of separation, so the body, like a fallen tabernacle, is for- saken, lies uninhabited and desolate. Shall I lead your thoughts back to the bed where your dear relatives expired ? andgive you a sight of the dead, whose beauty is turning apace into corruption, and all the loveliness of countenance fled for ever ? The body, that curious en- gine of divine workmanship, is become a moveless lump : Death sits heavy upon it ; and the sprightliness and vi- gour of life is perished in every feature and in every limb? Shall we go down to the dark chambers of the grave, where each of the dead lie in their cold mansions, in beds of darkness and dust? The shadows of a long evening are stretched over them, the curtains of a deep Midnight are drawnaround them, and theworm lies un- der them, and the worm covers them. A .saint is no more exempted from all these frightful attendants of death than a sinner is. Those eyes that have been perpetually lifted up to the God of heaven in prayer, lie closed under ground. That tongue that has spoken much for God in the world, lies silent in death. Those hands that have ministered to the necessities of thesaints, and those feet that have gone often to the house of God, death has confined them in his chains, Those natural powers that have been active in the service of the gospel, can speak, can move, can act no more. But I 2
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